Installment One: The Episodes of a Cookie Crusade

• This evening a fellow comrade made cookies for FHE. They were the cookies of the gods. Despite their flakey, buttery perfection, after the close of the evenings festivities we had nearly two dozen cookies remaining in our kitchen. The fellow comrade and maker of the cookies, DaLynn, went against Megan and I's persuasion and invited her crush over to share and partake of the bountiful blessings overflowing from our oven. Within 30 seconds, there was a ominous sounding knock on our door. We hesitantly cracked the door open and he kicked it in, causing Megan to sprawl on the floor. Without a thought he stepped over her broken body and into the kitchen. He demanded the cookies, M&M's, ice cream and three cans of Betty Crocker frosting for his own selfish desires and to satisfy his own FHE families cravings. In fear for my own safety, for I had seen the proof of his violent temper in the remains of my dear cousin and friend, Megan, I quickly complied to his every command and assembled the items he forcefully required. DaLynn swooned in the background crying, "Please take everything you want and more, even my heart, my dearest love." In my desperate helplessness, I looked frantically around the room and from the corner of my eye I beheld a flutter of tail feathers and a haunting melody filled my ears. As Megan received life into her frail body, the Phoenix had disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Megan had been reborn. She stood up in majesty of power with a strength that not even pure evil in the form of an innocent crush could overcome. She spake in a commanding voice, "Leave thou the cookies on the counter and touch not the tubes of frosting nor ice cream, surrender the M&M's and BE GONE FROM HERE, NEVER TO RETURN." DaLynn wept in the background (for though she was a very bright girl she had been understandably deceived by his handsome physique). With a single glance, telepathic waves were exchanged and Megan and I swooped in on the unsuspecting fellow. During a fearsome battle that ensued, which caused disarray in the kitchen, we fought with every strength and fiber in our beings. For we knew for which purposes and food items we were fighting for. Spatulas were used. Pots were used. Panini makers were used. All manner of kitchen utensils and appliances were employed to win the battle. The armed conflict raged for many hours. I stopped for but a moment to wipe the blood and sweat out of my eyes and I found myself alone with Megan in the kitchen. The culprit had escaped in the din with a plate of cookies and one tube of Betty Crocker frosting!!!!! We mourned the loss of our fallen comrades and howled like inconsolable ravenous wolves at our misfortune. We took stock of the battlefield and surveyed our standings. The casualties: two dozen sugar cookies. 1 tube of vanilla Betty Crocker frosting. The survivors: Megan. Stacie. Half empty carton of vanilla ice cream. Half a bag of M&M's. 2 cans of chocolate Betty Crocker frosting. Despite our casualties, we had come out victorious. Currently we are plotting our revenge....Until next week. To be continued.

Written and directed by Stacie Hymas and Megan Child

The battle that ensued:

I'm a Mormon

My sister told me about this website.

It is so good.

I love watching tear-jerking movies about fellow mormons around the world.

Check it out.

But beware, time seems to slip away once you enter this website.

http://www.mormon.org/people/

Top 10 Favorite Things About Summer

I've moved home for an eight week summer. I don't have a job. I'm not going to school. In other words, I'm making zero contribution to society. Sometimes having such a low quality of life stresses me out, but then I remind myself that probably never again in my life will it be okay to do absolutely nothing. So why not enjoy it while I can? I have three weeks in counting until my summer of laziness is over and I start my job in Provo-until then I will be basking in my top ten favorite things about this summer (in no particular order):

TEN: Lemonade Stands

The other day my mom and I drove past a lemonade stand and the two boys waved us over so furiously we couldn't resist. There was a shoddy cardboard sign that read, "Lemonade 25 cents" in little boy handwriting and we had the best customer service I've had in a long time. Watching them took me back to my own lemonade stand days with my cousin Alyssa. I would go to her house in Bountiful and we'd spend the morning making chocolate chip cookies from scratch, mixing lemonade powder into a gallon or two of water, and creating posters advertising what we were selling. We'd load up our goods into the car, drive to the corner of Bountiful Boulevard and set up shop. They were hot days. They were long days. And our arms were always sore the next day from waving cars and runners down. Sometimes we'd even recruit Braden, the brave cousin, to dance in the middle of the street with a poster in hopes that a compassionate soul would stop for us. At lunchtime my aunt would bring us each a can of cold spaghetti-oh's to help get us through the next few hours; and there was something magic about those spaghetti-oh's that somehow gave us the energy and determination to make it. At the end of the day she would drive back down, pack our supplies into the trunk of her car and we would run full speed into Alyssa's room to count our earnings on her bed and divide it into two. As I reminisced about my lemonade and cookie stands I realized that nothing made me happier on those days than when a car would stop to add a little change to our money jar. And so although the lemonade is usually less than mediocre, it's worth 25 cents and 30 seconds to stop to make a kid happy and contribute to keeping lemonade stands in business for years to come. Long live lemonade stands-the day they cease to exist will be a sure warning sign of the end of the world.

NINE: Outdoor Movies

Especially the ones shown on the lawn at the Capital on Thursday nights. I've decided that even the worst movies can be considered decent if they are shown outside on a projector. Including Legally Blonde 2.

EIGHT: Swimming

I've learned that there are more important things than getting sun-kissed skin and have never had as much fun swimming as I have the past few weeks while playing in the pool rather than laying out. Who would have thought that one little tennis ball could provide endless hours of entertainment in a pool?

SEVEN: Firework Shows

Add a few sparklers to dance around the street with after the show and the package is complete.

SIX: BBQ's

There's nothing quite like a good burger and juicy watermelon followed by chatting with family and friends on the patio on a cool summer night.

FIVE: Bike Rides

Whether it's an early morning ride along the Legacy Highway bike path or a quick ride around the town when the sun is setting with my dad, bike rides just do it for me.

FOUR: My Home Ward

As much as I love BYU student wards, being back in my home ward is so refreshing. Everyone has known and loved me since I can remember and are genuinely interested in my life. I don't have to meet new people every week and answer questions like where I'm from, what my major is, and what year in school I am. It's so enjoyable going to church with familiar faces instead of strangers.

THREE: Family Parties

Laughing for hours, playing made up games, eating tasty food and taking 45 minutes to say goodbye. How about a family party every night?

TWO: Having time to do anything I want during the day

Reading for hours, embellishing shirts, making a scrapbook of all my Jerusalem pictures, watching Gilmore Girls (my guilty pleasure), etc, etc, etc.

ONE: Family Vacations

From Boston to Sun Valley-but then again my entire summer has felt like a vacation...

Boston

Well, I just got home from my family vacation to Boston and surrounding areas and loved it! Here are a few photos of the trip day by day:

Day One:

My first encounter with a street in Northern Boston. So perfect.

Our first night we went to a little Italian restaurant that was delicious. Ethan scarfed down his fettucini alfredo so fast that our waiter brought him a second plate of it on the house, which he ate equally as fast.

Day Two:

Toured Boston both by a magic vehicle that went on land and water as well as walking through the historic sites by foot.

Favorite quote of the trip: we overheard a lady telling her daughter the story of Paul Revere hanging the lanterns when we were visiting the Old North Church. She said, "It was something like 'one if by sea, two if by air'" Oh sweetheart, I don't think the British had airplanes in the late 1700's. I'm pretty sure it was 'one if by land, two if by sea.' Good effort though. Some people just don't think through things logically before they say them.

The Old North Church had these pews with doors and walls. We decided that we would like our church to adopt this seating method...we could lay down and give massages during church and no one would be able to see. Awesome!

Day Three:

A tour of Harvard Campus

And a visit to Fenway Park with shopping to follow

Day Four:

We spent the day visiting the historic sites in Lexington and Concord. We saw all the graves of famous authors like Hawthorne, Emerson and Thoreau and a picnic at Walden Pond.

A Red Sox game at Fenway...unfortunately we lost.

Day Five:

We spent the day at Plymouth Plantation and met up with some cousins doing the same vacation as us and then drove to Cape Cod for the night.

Day Six:

We rode bikes all around Nantucket Island and spent the day at the beach. It was the most perfect and quaint Island and little town.

Nantucket

Day Seven:

Went to the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. We realized that we were nerdy for posing with imaginary rackets in mid-swing as soon as the picture was over.

And finally we met up with Kennedy who is nannying in Newport for the summer and toured the old Vanderbilt mansion with her.

The trip was so fun and couldn't have been more perfect. I fell in love with Boston, New England and the East Coast in general.

Clean Up Time

Today I had cleaning checks. I came very ill prepared to Provo and have zero cleaning supplies, which resulted in me having to be rather creative in order to successfully pass:

• The toilet was scrubbed down with shampoo
• The tables were dusted with a dirty t-shirt
• The kitchen floor was swept with a post-it note
• The porch was swept with a credit card application we received in the mail today

I was pleased with myself and my creativity until I got to “sweeping” the porch. Believe it or not, it was highly degrading. Especially when the neighbors next door were sweeping with a real, full grown broom and the guy across the street took out his trash and stifled a giggle when he passed me. I think buying real cleaning supplies in the fall would be a wise investment.

I promise I'm almost 20 years old

This afternoon as I was walking from the library to the Wilk I noticed from the swarm of youth that EFY sessions have begun. The campus is being overrun by giddy youth full of the excitement of a week away from home, the potential of finding a new crush, and being spiritually uplifted. It was a bit of a nostalgic walk as I thought back to my own EFY days, nearly five years ago. As I got into the building, I pushed my way through the horde of kids wearing colored wristbands and found the elevator, which was being so proficiently guarded by an EFY counselor, probably my same age. As I reached for the button that would bring me the elevator, the mentioned counselor stopped me in my tracks:

"Sorry, all EFY kids need to use the stairs," she said authoritatively with a finger pointing me to the other side of the building.

"Uh, I'm actually a student," I reply while awkwardly pointing to my empty wrist, not sporting a colorful band, for evidence.

She offers a half-hearted apology, "Oh, sorry, you're fine then, go ahead."

"Thanks," I mutter, overly annoyed, probably more than I should be.

I've been dealing with this problem my entire life. Once, while on a vacation to the east, we made friends with a school teacher. She told me that she loved guessing how old kids were and that she prided herself of the fact that she was so good at it. She said she was almost never wrong. She gave it a shot and guessed that I was going into 4th grade. I was going into 8th. Just last year on my 19th birthday my grandma told me that I looked like I was 14 years old. Ouch. My mom keeps telling me that someday I'll appreciate it, that I'll be grateful that I look so youthful. She's always right about things like that, so I guess I'll trust her. But I have a feeling that 'someday' isn't going to be for a long, long time.

A scene right out of a scary movie

Tonight after the ward FHE chip n' dip party I decided that it was time to cruise over to the bank and deposit a few checks that have been building up. I found the nearest bank and learned that the ATM was located in the parking garage of the said bank. Parking garages have never been the most warm and welcoming settings, partly due to their dark, cold, and empty nature; partly due to the fact that in nearly every suspenseful movie at least one murder, bombing, stalking or chase occurs in the mentioned setting. As I drove up to the ATM I noticed that I was the only car/person in the area, retrieved an envelope and began writing the amount I wanted to deposit. I casually glanced in my side mirror and saw that out of nowhere had appeared an old man wearing a blue plaid shirt with suspenders standing solo directly behind me, watching me. I immediately imagined myself as the main character in a scary movie while the suspenseful music played in the background and the audience yelled at me to drive away before the murderer caught me and decided my fate. For a few seconds I was convinced that my life was nearing an end and that soon my face would flood local newspapers as the girl who was found slain in the bank parking garage. Shortly after my imagination ran wild, I came to my senses and realized that he was most likely a kind, innocent old man just waiting in line to use the ATM. But because I have seen one too many Law and Order episodes I locked my doors and deposited my checks as quickly as possible before I threw the car in drive and sped off to the safety of my apartment. An overreaction on my part? Perhaps. But one can never be too cautious, especially in parking garages.